Do You Hear My Prayers?
by Avixi Lynn
Summary: The female hunter has yet to face the host of the nightmare, and after uncovering the secrets Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower guarded with her life, the huntress faces only more questions and secrets to fulfill her wild curiosity. Hunter and Micolash slash (mild)
1. Blood Reign

_**Chapter 1: Blood Reign**_

 **Astral Clocktower**

Needless to say, she was exhausted. The female hunter had recently made another visit to the Plain Doll, and planned on getting some rest after offering the Plain Doll 90,000 blood echoes from her veins.

She was now stronger, faster, and one step closer to completing Simon the Harrowed's quest. He had briefly informed her that she needed to rid herself of Lady Maria of the Astral clocktower in order to uncover the rest of the dirty little secrets the Hunter's Nightmare still caged in from others.

It had been a brutal, bloody, yet prideful battle when the huntress had finally unlocked the Astral Clocktower with the key.

Every creak and groan the heavy brass doors gave out sounded much like a death knell to her ears, yet she courageously pressed onward with reverent pride in her heart raised high like a flag of triumph that was yet to come.

She had every bit of confidence that she would beat Lady Maria, and she wouldn't back down without a good fight.

She walked mellowly inside the Astral Clocktower, gazing up at the dark, magnificently large bells that hung from the rafters above. Her neck hurt and she had to eventually crane back downwards as she walked towards the front of the room.

Strange.

The huntress had expected blades and gunshots to already have befallen her, yet the Clocktower remained silent.

Before her sat a wondrous set of gears and mechanisms that were partially dusty and rusted due to their age. The huntress spied some rays of light from the beyond ahead of her, but she knew it wouldn't be that easy; nothing ever was in this realm.

She braced herself as she advanced cautiously towards a chair and a small table at the front of the room just before a small staircase littered with lumenflower petals scattered evenly about.

As empty as the Clocktower was, there was something "homey" and stilling about it, yet the huntress couldn't put her finger on the specific origin of the feeling.

She put it aside and instead donned her deadly chikage by her side, raising it slightly and pointing it at a seemingly lifeless corpse seated at the chair before her.

The floorboards of the Clocktower creaked as if whispering their bets as to what was to transpire next, and the huntress gazed plainly down at Lady Maria's corpse.

This had to be a trap to lull her into a sense of serene calm; she wasn't naïve to it.

She carefully reached back and her long, wavy platinum blonde hair that was tied up into a ponytail danced backwards with the movement of her shoulders and swayed in the wind seeping in through the open door and gaps within the floorboards below.

The huntress carefully raised a gloved hand towards Maria's corpse. There were no visible signs of her breathing or moving, but she had to be certain.

She inched closer and closer, and paused briefly when she heard a faint 'tap' 'tap', 'drip' 'drip' below.

She peered over at Lady Maria's left hand, which hung loosely over the arm rest of the chair, fingers pointed almost accusingly downward, as a steady, slow stream of blood dripped onto the floorboards.

So she was deceased indeed.

The huntress scoffed, wondering what the other hunters and what Simon in particular had been madly raving about. Lady Maria was dead. The secrets would soon be uncovered, and all hell would break loose about the experiments on the patients in the research hall, and the curse of the blood-drunk hunters eternally condemned to the nightmare would reach the ears of all of Yharnam. She had won! She would soon reap the rewards, and the rewards would be freedom, and knowledge.

She praised herself internally as she reached for Maria's right gloved hand which rested on her lap.

That was when the corpse sprung to life; the left hand reaching up and digging into the forearm of the huntress, Maria sitting up, and yanking the huntress down to her level so they were face-to-face directly.

The huntress froze, her pale blue eyes going wide, her red-lipped mouth forming the shocked shape of an "O".

"A corpse should be left well alone."

If there was one thing the huntress hadn't been expecting, it was how gentle and soothing Lady Maria's voice was. It was as if she had been reading poetry instead of dishing out a warning.

The huntress froze, feeling her hand going cold in Lady Maria's, despite the fact that she now felt warm and very much the opposite of how a corpse's hand should feel.

Feeling uncomfortable and wishing she could retreat, the huntress gently and very carefully eased her hand out of Lady Maria's, eyes never leaving the pale woman's as she carefully straightened her posture, and took a few steps backwards, chikage tapping against her thigh like the beat of a steady drum.

Lady Maria also stood, standing at least a head taller than the huntress.

"Oh I know very well, how the secrets beckon so sweetly." She explained as if she were merely discussing a topic of familiarity with a companion.

"I'm sorry…" The huntress whispered in her youthful voice, holding up her hands in fear and backing away a few more steps.

Lady Maria had made her mind up. She grabbed the long, deadly Rakuyo from the side of the chair and raised it slowly before herself.

"Only an honest death will cure you now," She raised the weapon up higher, her cap slowly sliding down her face and partially covering her enchantingly haunting eyes which held more than fire within them.

She separated the weapon in the middle right then, a loud "CLANG!" billowing between the two women and bouncing off the high walls of the Clocktower.

"…Liberate you from your wild curiosity."

She held the two bits of the Rakuyo firmly in each hand, standing tall and open to the dance of war that was to begin.

The huntress swallowed thickly, and reached for her chikage, unsheathing it.

Before she knew what had happened, Lady Maria raised her right hand strongly to the side in a horizontal position, and with a good, clever use of the old hunter bone, she dashed forward and rammed the blade against the huntress's chest.

The huntress screamed and fell back, feeling the pain burning along her chest.

She stood quickly, looking up to find Lady Maria already preparing for the next attack.

The huntress rolled to the side and quickly injected a blood vial. It was a bit late, and unfortunately in bad waste, for Lady Maria raised her dark brown Evelyn, crest and symbols shining in the evening light mixed with the dimly lit candles in the Clocktower, and she fired once at the huntress.

The bullet pierced through the abdomen of the huntress, knocking her back a few feet.

This was no ordinary foe, the huntress thought. She internally cursed her youthful arrogance and lust for power, knowing it had caused her to charge forth with nothing but foolishness and inquisitiveness in her mind, and she wouldn't last if she fought on with her pride bearing forth.

The huntress knew that the only way she would be able to finish Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower off, was to fight her like an equal.

The huntress knew she wasn't as skilled as Lady Maria, but she still held a few tricks up her sleeve.

She reached into her Old Hunter's garb, gingerly stroking the Augur of Ebrietas hidden within. All she had to do was time this appropriately.

The huntress dug a pin into her left leg, obtaining 5 extra blood bullets for extra strength and good measure. Though she did indeed have plenty of faith in her capabilities, she preferred teetering on the edge of the 'safe' as opposed to dead and sorry.

Lady Maria swiped at the huntress with both sharp blades, scratching the Old Hunter's cloth that was already torn up for decorative and aesthetic purposes, leaving longer tear marks.

The huntress hissed in pain, feeling the bite of the Rakuyo slide along her skin and scratching the surface open.

Before Lady Maria could take another swipe, the huntress grabbed the old hunter bone, and flew backwards in a flurried cloud.

Lady Maria followed suite, but the huntress was able to keep a track of her. They dashed about evenly until Lady Maria broke out of her cloud and put the Rakuyo back together and slammed it down with all her might and fury on the floorboards of the Clocktower.

It had just barely missed the huntress.

She ran forward and the cold blade of the chikage sliced away at Lady Maria's back.

The huntress was more so amused to note that Lady Maria grunted once, but otherwise didn't let out a cry. That would soon have to change.

The thrill of the hunt coursed through her veins now, and the huntress boldly rolled and ducked forward, then when she was close to Lady Maria, she swiped upwards with the chikage and then gathered it together while she still had enough stamina to dig it deeply in Lady Maria's thigh.

The cry Lady Maria emitted was a bit louder this time, blood flying everywhere and covering the huntress's pale, moonlit face.

That was more like it.

Lady Maria backed up, the force of her movements breaking the table and the chair she had been resting on.

 _What was the meaning of this? Why back down now? Hit me!_

The huntress ran forward, anger flying in her heart as she raised the chikage and began stabbing Lady Maria with it repeatedly.

Lady Maria broke the Rakuyo in two once more, but rather than attack the huntress, she held the blades up, and…

 _She stabbed herself?_

 _What was the meaning of this?!_

The huntress stopped attacking for a moment, gazing curiously at Lady Maria.

Lady Maria hunched over, wheezing out in pain, blood kissing the blades of the Rakuyo and bathing the blades in the crimson flow.

 _Finish her off, NOW!_

The huntress normally didn't attack an opponent who wasn't prepared, but she was willing to make an exception for Lady Maria.

She dove ahead, slicing as quickly as she could, eating away at Lady Maria's arms and shoulders, but Lady Maria suddenly reared up, and the blades of the Rakuyo were pulled forth from her body.

The force of the blood hit the huntress like a cart and horse all at once.

She flew backwards and slammed her head onto the rough wood of the Clocktower, blood coating her entire body.

She barely had time to catch her breath when she heard Lady Maria's footsteps closing in on her.

She got up quickly, her lungs about to explode from exertion of taking breath in and out. She put the pain at bay and trained her eyes on Lady Maria.

Lady Maria suddenly twirled upwards, and she was airborne. She flew up towards the ceiling like a twister, and she swooped down with the Rakuyo bearing down hard on the huntress.

The huntress leapt to the right just in time, but bits of Lady Maria's powerful blood smacked the back of the huntress's legs, and she fell forward on her hands and knees.

This wouldn't do. Lady Maria would finish her off within minutes, and she was almost out of blood vials!

She ran ahead towards the front door which she had entered, pausing at the nightmare fog for a brief second, healing up twice rapidly.

Lady Maria held the Rakuyo at her side and with a war-cry, she slashed forward, the blood acting on her behalf and slicing at the huntress.

The huntress was thrown back down onto the floor and she held back the tears that threatened to spill forth.

 _Equals. Fight her like an equal!_

She flipped up on her legs and dashed away before Lady Maria closed in on her at the door.

Lady Maria's blades with the flow of blood which accompanied them slammed against the spot where the huntress once had been.

The huntress stood facing lady Maria's back, shaking slightly on her legs.

Lady Maria turned, with grace and a deadly promise of death. She looked ahead at the huntress, walking calmly with the blood-soaked Rakuyo held together in her right hand.

Before Lady Maria could bestow another deadly blow, the huntress dug the chikage in her own flesh.

She grimaced in pain, but her weapon began soaking up her blood rapidly.

Lady Maria didn't seem phased by this. She brought the Rakuyo down and crouched on the balls of her feet, raising the Rakuyo forward slightly, and then with a loud scream, a long, thick stream of blood jutted forth from the tip of the miraculous weapon.

The huntress dashed closer towards Maria but kept to the right. The stream of blood missing, splattering against a candle-lit shelf, breaking it down into pieces.

 _That could have been me, indeed!_

The huntress felt the chikage draining her life away as she flung her own bloodied blade at Maria, not backing down from the streams of blood that still showered her over as Maria fought back.

Blood met blood as the vicious women dueled.

Each huntress landed an equal number of blows on the other, and the huntress felt that victory was within sight, when Lady Maria suddenly ceased attacking.

She stood rigidly still, like a marble statue, and all over the Clocktower, her splattered blood began rising like a spell and they flew towards Lady Maria as she levitated herself high above the floor. She appeared almost god-like; her arms raised high on either side of her, her eyes coldly looking up at the walls behind the huntress, and her boots dangling with blood droplets dripping down to the floor.

The huntress knew from their last encounter not to approach. She waited patiently at the far end of the Clocktower until Lady Maria grunted again, and the blood that had gathered and circled her suddenly exploded like a wildfire being fed with fresh wood and fuel.

Lady Maria carefully and slowly lowered herself back onto the floor of the Clocktower.

The huntress approached carefully, when Lady Maria took a strong swipe, and both blood and fire suddenly burst forth at the huntress, singeing the shoulder of her garb.

She screamed from the intensity of the heat, and held steadfastly onto a blood vial, then injected it.

Now she had fire and blood attacks to watch out for?

What other tricks did Lady Maria hold?!

The huntress quickly moved away as Lady Maria dove forward madly and slashed both her arms to the right then once right ahead in front of the huntress, the red-caked flames flying and missing the top of the huntress's cap as she ducked down and dug her chikage into Lady Maria's legs.

Lady Maria didn't back down, but she turned a half circle in front of the huntress with her weapon held high, and she turned a deadly slash at the sides of the huntress as she panicked and tried moving out of the way.

More flames followed, marring the huntress's soft, pale skin.

She screamed in agony and anger, which fed her chikage with more power than she could ever wield without her blood attacks.

She brandished the weapon high and the blade kissed Lady Maria's cheek, and cut deeply, nearly hitting the bone.

Lady Maria cried in shock, and she leapt back, then swung forward again.

The huntress ducked to the right again, missing the flames and blood that threatened to engulf her and snuff out her life.

Once she had her back turned to her, the huntress raised the chikage high and prepared for a charged attack.

Lady Maria however was also charging an attack. She pounced forward on one foot, and a stream of blood met with the huntress's arms and chest, and she almost obediently feel down on her right kneecap.

Damn her.

The huntress froze in her parry, eyes wide as she knelt down before Lady Maria, stunned and open for a visceral attack.

Lady Maria didn't need the invitation; she lunged forward and with her right hand, she broke through the huntress's ribcage and clutched her heart.

Lady Maria's left hand came to wrap around the huntress's back and waist, and before she could realize what had happened, the huntress was met face-to-face with Lady Maria in a gentle embrace.

Lady Maria looked dully down at the huntress; her eyes betraying no feeling or emotion.

She gathered the huntress close to her chest, and then she removed her right hand from the huntress's chest, calmly and softly lowering her back onto the hard floor of the Clocktower.

The huntress felt she had turned to a pile of goop, as she fell down, trying to catch her breath.

The attack had left her with a sliver of health left. She had to act quickly.

She stood up quickly, and moved as far away as she could from Lady Maria, her breath entirely gone.

As Lady Maria rounded on her with double speed, the huntress injected the last blood vial she had left.

She turned away from Lady Maria just in time before a nest of flames descended upon her.

Running as quickly as she could with her rejuvenated strength, she headed up to the little staircase at the front of the room where she had intended to go all along.

Lady Maria followed swiftly with the old hunter bone at her aid.

All the huntress could do was watch as the little cloud that was Lady Maria flew up towards the steps, then Maria's form solidified out of the cloud, Rakuyo held before her in an attacking position; the left blade at Maria's cheek with the right was held up by her ear on the right side of her head.

The huntress closed her eyes, and she raised her right hand.

The tentacles of the Augur of Ebrietas shot forth from her clenched fist, and pierced through Lady Maria's chest.

The loud and suddenly welcome chime of the parry hit the huntress's ears.

She opened her eyes to find Lady Maria knelt down on one knee, fire and blood ceased.

Lady Maria gasped, looking up at the huntress with a shocked expression, then one which followed resembling a fearful look that pleaded for mercy.

The huntress took the last bits of energy the blood vial had provided her with, and she raised her right hand and took the visceral.

Her hand was brought back to life as the warmth of Lady Maria's chest and blood wrapped themselves around her fist that she buried in Lady Maria's body.

Lady Maria groaned in pain, and the huntress pulled her close until they were inches apart from one another.

The huntress's eyes met Lady Maria's, and the huntress smiled a deadly, pearly white smile, teeth pointed and bare at Maria.

"May the good blood guide your way, Lady Maria." She spoke softly, her breath hitching on the last word, before she depleted Lady Maria's last bit of energy and life.

She flung her backwards and in complete opposition to how gently Lady Maria had lowered her onto the floor after she delivered her visceral attack, but the huntress found she couldn't care about airs and graces or an honorable duel anymore.

Lady Maria was tossed backwards down the little steps and she fell onto the her back, reaching up to cry out to the skies one final time before she turned to a clear dust and melded away into the wood of the Clocktower.

The huntress panted, never taking her eyes off where Lady Maria had perished. She wanted to immortalize the thought and the memory forever.

She had beaten Lady Maria, student of Gehrman, descendant of Queen Annalise of the Vilebloods.

"You're free, Maria."

The huntress limped over to the common refuge of the little blue-purple lamp that had emerged up from the floorboards of the Clocktower. She trailed her eyes along the empty Clocktower, feeling her life depleting with every step she took. It didn't matter; she had won and she would soon obtain every last secret the hunter's nightmare withheld from her.

She knelt down with a shaking hand raised at the lamp, heading over to the hunter's dream before darkness and madness could consume her.


	2. Diary of a Madman

_**Chapter 2: Diary of a Madman**_

 **Nightmare of Mensis: Mergo's Loft, Base**

The huntress watched with hooded eyes as the last puppet-like skeleton dropped before her at her feet, almost in supplication as the skull looked back up at her, lifelessly. Dust bits flew about through the open gap she had walked in from, the cool breeze of the night air hitting her back and making the cloak of Maria's hunter set sway in the wind.

After defeating her worst nemesis to date, the huntress had donned Lady Maria's set of clothes, and pulled the cap over her pale blue eyes as she drew nearer to the end of her journey.

Though the night was still and silent, it was anything but tranquil in the mind of the huntress. She'd been on the hunt for a short length of time, yet she had quickly adapted to being on the prowl consistently and interminably. There was no rest; no rest for the wicked, no rest for the dead. If there was a hell, they'd all been condemned to it, and it hadn't even begun.

The huntress held Lady Maria's Rakuyo tightly in her right hand, and she adjusted her little lantern on her waist as she peered forward. A thick heavy foggy mist was all that was before her. Chilling hallways with little spidery eyes littered everywhere was what she had to look forward to.

She raised her head and took a step forward into the passageway, when she heard the light shuffling of feet in the distance.

"Ah Kos. Or some say Kosm…do you hear our prayers?"

The voice was unlike anything she had ever heard before, and her immediate gut reaction was to shiver and grind her teeth over each other. She bunched up in an involuntary reflex, and her shoulders rolled up high, her fists tightened, and her ears were on the high alert.

The voice spoke again, grainy, somewhat troublesome, whiny, and partly nasal in how the words drawled out like nails on chalkboard.

"No! We shall not abandon the dream!"

The huntress saw him then: A tall, lanky man with a Mensis cage sat upon his head, resembling the millions of others she had witnessed on dead, mummified bodies in Yahar'gul, the Unseen Village scattered about, seemingly still alive with souls in torment as they sat upon chairs and tilted at odd, devious angles.

The huntress took a breath, eyes locking onto the insane psychopath's green ones.

She felt her stomach churn when the man turned and gave her a deviously psychotic smile from ear-to-ear, but it wasn't at all a welcoming, warm smile; it was that of sheer malice.

The huntress glared onward at the devious man, unwilling to let him intimidate her from proceeding onward and ending the nightmare. She knew he was standing in her way, and since her last encounter with Lady Maria, the huntress had not only grown in strength and skill, but in bravery and prowess. She was loathe to admit it, but she felt herself slightly heady, possibly from blood lust. She feared for her sorry soul, knowing that before the night was through, she'd become one of the many lost blood-addled hunters she'd so happily slain earlier. However, she had to press on; for herself, for her comrades, for Alfred, for Gehrman…

The evil maniac suddenly raised his hands, smile growing impossibly more wide and mad.

"No one can catch us! No one can stop us now! Ahahaha!"

To her amazement, the insane bastard walked off into the fog, his laughs echoing off the walls as he disappeared.

The huntress tore after the man, running up a flight of dark, metallic stairs, the fog and the dim lights swallowing her form whole. She carefully eased her way out of the death blow a few more puppet skeletons tried bestowing upon her as they lingered about in the halls almost as if they had materialized out of the walls whenever she ran past them after the man with the cage on his head.

The huntress turned to the left of the hall, and noticed the man simply standing, staring at her. She peered down at his hands, expecting him to have readied a weapon, but he only held his fists clenched…

This had to be some sort of a mockery, and the huntress wouldn't have any of it. Feeling her vitriol and anger taking the reins, the huntress bolted after the man, only to have him turn at the last minute and run right past her in the opposite direction.

This was foolish!

The huntress growled under her breath, picking up the pace, Rakuyo held at her waist as she ran after the man, allowing him to lead her up and down the dark stairs, down halls only to turn at the worst times abruptly.

The charade lasted for several minutes. The huntress felt her thigh muscles beginning to burn as she ran up the stairs on the far right hand of the room she had entered. She was going to run out of stamina, and she hadn't even touched the man at all. She wondered if that was his plan, his gimmick; to make her lose all bits of sanity and stamina until he could corner her and finish her off in the foggy halls.

When she felt she could run no more, the huntress stopped, and ducked in the nick of time as a skeleton rushed past her with a blade held high in its emaciated hand.

She turned and kicked it down, watching the bones crumble like her spirits were about to. She grit her teeth when she heard the bones clanking and clattering together, wondering if she should just end her own life then and there instead of run another lap baselessly around, when she felt a breeze brush past her neck and ears.

She whipped her head around to cast her gaze on the withered, dusty, dirty old student uniform and the Mensis caged head as the insane man ran into a large room the huntress never had been in before.

It would be better than running up more steps, so the huntress decidedly followed inside the room, Rakuyo pointed at the man.

She dove forth with the tip of the blade inches away from the man's face, when an explosion of tentacles befell her.

The Augur of Ebrietas wasn't a trick only owned by herself, and the huntress was knocked flat on her backside.

She felt as if a steam hammer had exploded in her chest, but she got up before two more skeletons threw themselves at her.

With cleverly timed dashes, she was able to take out the skeletons, and she locked her eyes onto the man who stood with his back against a wall in the far end of the room.

The tactic was simple to read through, so the huntress stood, not approaching, not attacking.

She breathed softly, for her chest exploded with pain for every breath she inhaled and exhaled.

"What moniker do I bestow upon your gravestone in the hunter's nightmare, you fiend?" She ventured, taking a careful side-step, just in case the man didn't have room for chit-chat and instead went for another attack.

However, she was surprised, as he smiled even wider, eyes gleaming at her from the square spaces the bars provided in the cage.

"Micolash, Host of the Nightmare."

"Fiend." She hissed, not really caring what the devil his name was, just wanting to buy herself some time to recuperate from the shock and pain, but also to regain her bearings.

"Some may refer to me as such, but to many, I'm a genius; a scholastic father to all!"

The huntress shook her head, ponytail flying about wildly. "I see but a madman before me. You're going to die like one, too."

Micolash inched closer to the huntress, smile never leaving his face. "Indeed it was you who slayed the Vacuous Rom, was it not?"

The huntress smiled in turn, "Aye."

Micolash suddenly looked up at the ceiling and howled loudly.

"Grant us eyes! Grant us eyes! Aooooooooohhhh!"

The huntress took advantage of the momentary distraction, and she flung her Rakuyo's tip into the man's chest.

He stumbled back in a gasp, but then resumed laughter, surprisingly unharmed.

"Ooohoo! Majestic! A hunter is a hunter even in a dream!" He clapped his hands together, taunting the huntress as he retreated a few steps away from her.

The huntress carefully stepped to the side before another flash of Augur of Ebrietas could hit her.

"But alas, not too fast!" Micolash spun around, walking in a small circle around the huntress, like a bird of prey or a shark circling a wounded animal to feast upon while it slowly bled out its energy.

The huntress separated the Rakuyo in two, and pointed both blades at Micolash, standing on her toes and ready to attack at any given moment.

Micolash suddenly stopped circling, and he leapt backwards in a loud gasp. It was as if he had been grabbed by an Amygdala, for his eyes nearly bulged out in how widely they were open, and his hands unclenched and were held at his sides.

The huntress slightly lowered her hands, but didn't change her fighting stance.

Micolash emitted another gasp, and his hands shook as he raised them up a bit, but made no effort to reach out to the huntress before him.

L-Lady Maria! It is you!" He spoke softly, eyes trapped in a daze, black hair matted slightly from the pressure of the Mensis cage.

She ceased everything right at that moment. Ceased thinking, feeling, breathing, hating, ill wishing, conspiring. She couldn't believe her ears. Surely she had been losing grasp of her hearing due to the many tiresome nights of fighting and hunting, no?

"I beg your pardon?" She ventured, lowering her shoulders more, but keeping a close eye on Micolash.

"My Lady! It is you! I can't believe I was so lost in the throes of my beastly idiocy that I didn't recognize your moonlit face earlier!"

Of course.

Why it hadn't clicked earlier was a mystery to her, but the huntress could make the connection now. She had donned Lady Maria's hunter set, and had wielded the Rakuyo, and she had her eyes, hair, and strength. Of course the insane man would confuse the two women.

She watched in horror as Micolash reached up and pulled at either side of the Mensis cage until he had successfully wedged his head into the center of the cage, where a little lock had been opened.

Micolash pulled on both ends of the cage until it came apart in the center, and he let it drop to the cold, hard floors with a resounding, dull "clang!".

The huntress let her eyes roam down to the discarded cage upon the floor all the way, then back up to the cage less Micolash. She found his skin to be slightly pale, but with a tanned complexion within it. His hair was curly, and the sweat from the cage no doubt had made it slightly damp.

He raised his arms high above his head as if he were conducting a sermon, then he wrapped those hands around the huntress.

She screamed in fright, dropping the Rakuyo down and trying to squirm out of his tight grasp. How a man as lanky as he could possess such strength was beyond her, but she felt her chest tightening in fear and panic as he rested his chin onto her shoulder, wrapped in the embrace.

"Unhand me at once, Micolash!" She screamed and kicked at his feet, but like a statue, he won't budge.

Micolash sighed deeply, his breath pushing some loose strands of the blonde hair out of the ponytail.

"Let me go!" The huntress's commands went unheard or ignored, she couldn't really differentiate which, but she found herself slightly dizzy as the seconds went by with Micolash's arms around her tightly.

"Micolash, stop this!" She felt her eyelids weighing a million pounds, and she soon felt she had to fight to keep them open, let alone keep Micolash off of her. It seemed as if she had been doused in a hundred Numbing Mists, for she felt unable to do anything except feel her life leaving her eyes by the minute.

"Shhh," Micolash cooed, stroking her hair over her shoulders, "…you're safe once again, My Lady."

The huntress felt her knees give way, and she collapsed like the skeletons she had once knocked down, right into Micolash's chest.

"Welcome back home, Maria."

Her vision faded to blackness.

The huntress woke, springing up as if someone had attacked her with bolt paper. She sat up to find herself in some sort of bedroom quarters, as she had been resting upon a large bed with silver sheets.

The room was empty, save for some tall bookshelves with many old and worn out books resting on them. A few chairs and tables were in the center of the room near the large bed, but otherwise, the room was simply a room; not holding any new and worthwhile secrets.

She felt the covers move away from her body as she tried sitting up to study her surroundings in greater depth, only to feel an arctic breeze blast her chest.

The huntress looked down to find her bindings and corset removed, and she was bare chested. She gasped in shock and embarrassment, pulling down the covers and noting she was also nude from the waist down.

That creature! That horrid creature!

She quickly scanned the room for her garb, noting it neatly folded on a chair in a corner. The huntress ran towards the chair, her hair flying about like the sails on a ship caught in the wildest storm.

She dressed hurriedly, every so often peering back at a large black door at the far end of the room.

She was halfway through with getting herself in Lady Maria's hunter garb, when she turned to swipe her cap off the chair, only to look back and find Micolash standing, leaning against the doorframe, which now stood wide open, his hands held crossed firmly against his chest as he peered at the huntress with an amused expression plastered on his face.

The huntress suddenly wished she had her Rakuyo in her vicinity, but that was gone, too. Knowing she had no way to protect herself, guard herself, or to cover herself. She hadn't even gotten the top half of the garb on herself, and she shrieked, her hands instinctively flying upwards to cover her assets from his perverted view.

"Get out of here!" She pressed herself until she was backed into the opposite end of the room, back against the wall, shivering slightly from how cold the bricks were.

Micolash smirked even more smugly instead of obeying her wish.

"You're in no position to be ordering me out of my own quarters." Micolash taunted in his annoying voice, his teeth gleaming in the candlelight as he smiled with pride.

"You escorted me here for nefarious purposes, and I'll have no part in them! I wish to be rid of you, and I wish to leave!" She quickly leaned onto the bed, grabbing a sheet and covering her entire body with it.

"Why would you ever want to leave? Do you really want to wake up and forget everything, My dearly delusional Lady?" Micolash didn't budge from his spot against the doorframe, but he unfolded his arms from his chest, and tapped his old worn out dark brown shoes on the floor in a rhythm to a tune perhaps on he could hear for all eternity.

The huntress looked out of her peripheral vision to see a box filled with poison knives upon a small footrest.

Micolash didn't seem to notice, for he kept rambling, waving his hands about as if he were a conductor for an orchestra straight out of the bowels of hell.

"It took so long for us to be reunited, why are you so desperate to flee from the very sight of me? I was hoping we could sit about as we often used to do and speak feverishly into the wee hours of the dawn before the descent into madness."

The huntress didn't know exactly what Micolash was playing at here, but she was certain she was growing increasingly uncomfortable by the minute.

Without any further thought, she grabbed three poison knives, and threw them as hard as she could at Micolash.

He sputtered and gagged, then fell forward in a flurry of coughs and dry wheezes.

This was her chance!

She quickly grabbed the rest of her items, and brushed past him into the hall, off in a desperate search for her beloved Rakuyo.


	3. Yharnam Sunrise

_**Chapter 3**_

The huntress had been able to exit the resting chambers of Micolash, but she still found herself lost in the sea and maze outside as she dashed past skeletons lazing about, who seemed to stir to some sort of mock form of life only when she happened to be in their presence. She raced down a dark winding staircase, reaching the bottom of it only to be faced with another one.

She nearly dropped her Rakuyo when she heard from behind her the howls and hoots of Micolash. How he had nearly caught up with her frightened her, but she had to remind herself that this was his 'domain' and she was his prisoner.

She flew down the steps, two at a time, until she faced two of Mergo's heavy set attendants, their round bellies jutting forth as they pointed upwards at her with their weaponry.

She had ducked out of the view of the taller one, which had flung its poisonous axe at her, falling into the floors below. Its back unprotected before her, she was able to drive the longer end of her Rakuyo into its fleshy back before she resumed her flight down the steps.

Micolash's voice boomed all around her, and she ran until she was faced with a large room filled with mirrors at odd angles and sides. The mirrors however were mostly cracked, dull, and appeared to give off no reflection.

She reached out to touch the surface of one, only to have it light up bright blue with a white haze of a light, and she screamed, retreating backwards.

"Ooooohoooo!"

Micolash suddenly was ejected forth from inside the mirror, and he almost literally stepped out of it, running past the huntress, turning to look back at her as if to taunt her to follow him and catch him.

She couldn't deny that he had frightened her, but she quickly took up her boldness and nerves once again, and chased after him, only to have him turn around, run back into the same room which held the mirrors, and he leapt inside another one at the far opposite end of the room.

The huntress slammed and clanged her Rakuyo against the front of it violently, gritting her teeth with each slash of the blade against the mirror.

"Come out of there, you coward!" She roared at the top of her lungs.

"The nightmare swirls and churns unending!" He carried on as if he hadn't been leading her on a wild goose chase, which further infuriated the huntress.

She left the room with the mirrors, and was almost down another staircase, when she suddenly felt a pain deep within her chest, causing her to freeze in the middle of her running, and the pain was followed by a searing white flash of hot light.

The light seemed to have come from the heavens itself, and it was as bright and dangerously painful to look at as if one were beneath the unforgiving rays Amygdala shot forth.

The huntress remained frozen on the steps, the light growing brighter and brighter, until it finally stopped shining down on her. The light had left as abruptly and wildly as it had come, and it left the huntress rooted to the stairs, but once the light had shut off, the huntress found although she had remained in the same area, she was immediately certain she was in another world, or at best, another time long since past.

She moved down the steps, hearing the chanting and loud voices of what may have been at least fifty people.

Looking up, she noted the infrastructure of the weird building had changed drastically; large chandeliers hung from high ceilings, candles lit and dripping down onto the floors below, grand staircases leading up and down from the second floor the huntress was at to the level floor down below. A landing stood before her, which dipped down below to give view to the first floor, and the huntress leaned over it to note large long desks and chairs sat upon the sides of the walls and dark picture frames hanging every so often on the walls.

Many little doors were hidden in the sides of the walls, and the huntress walked down one of the staircases until she had reached a thick door to her right. The booming and cheering of the voices echoed from the other side of this door.

Wondering if it was danger, the huntress hid her Rakuyo by her side, draping Maria's thick, heavy cloak over it like a personal shield, and she pushed against the doors, opening them widely and slowly, on her guard and highly alert as her eyes darted from side-to-side, trying to gain the upper hand by viewing whatever was on the other side of the door before it caught a glimpse of her.

The cheering and loud cries slammed against her ears with brute force, causing her to wince, but she opened the door to its full extent.

She had to have been in some kind of theater or lecture building, the huntress estimated, for before her were rows upon rows of old, brown seats, and inside the seats sat young students. The students were all male, and they wore dark matching student uniforms the huntress had known Micolash to wear, while the other half wore another type of student uniform; a slightly cream coloured set with dark dress pants. The only exception here was that the students in this lecture room wore little caps atop their heads, and they didn't seem to move until they saw her.

"Who're you?!"

"Get out!"

"You're unwelcome here, you beast!"

"Be gone!"

Their simultaneous cries and outbursts of displeasure and anger bombarded the huntress, and she was about to pardon herself for interrupting their lesson, when she looked at the front of the room.

A desk sat before the students, between a blackboard that stretched from one end of the lecture room to the other, but the instructor was what caught the huntress's attention the most.

He had short, black, curly hair, books were scattered all over his desk in a disorderly fashion, and his deep green eyes looked her up and down curiously before he waltzed over to her, the lengths of his long, dark uniform sleeves floating downward and nearly touching the floors as he gripped the doors she had opened and began pressing them shut as they had been.

"Micolash?" She whispered into the shadows once the door closed on her face judgmentally, echoing in the back of the building.

The huntress could have sworn the figure of the lecturer had been Micolash! Everything about him seemed to give off that persona, though she hadn't been able to speak to him to verify her assumptions. She began racing through her vivid memories of the insane Micolash she had begun learning about recently, when the bright flash of dangerously searing hot light fell upon her form once again, cloaking her in its rays and whisking her off once again.

This time, the huntress knew where she was. She could recognize the place from the hanging tools, which littered the walls and ceilings of the now new and luminous Hunter Workshop. The huntress had visited the workshop previously in the dream, however it had then been labeled as the Abandoned Old Workshop.

By comparison, there was nothing to deem "old" about this wondrous place. It loomed before the huntress much like a grand sanctuary, with the large house-like interior housing large groups of young hunters as they walked throughout, repairing their weapons, loading their pistols and firearms, and cleaning their hunter sets.

In the tall grass and flowers sat Gehrman, and by his side stood the infamous Lady Maria.

The huntress couldn't believe it; it appeared as if she had stepped into a fairytale land, and she inched nearer to the pair, her ears suddenly catching onto the topic of their conversation.

"Do you feel the new recruits are prepared, Gehrman?" Came Lady Maria's soothing voice as she placed a gloved hand over Gehrman's shoulder.

The first hunter beamed up at her, and though he sat in his familiar chair he had greeted the huntress in when she landed in the hunter's dream, he suddenly stood now, and the huntress gazed down to find both his legs healthy and well-attached to his body.

She indeed had been in another time.

Gehrman took off his cap, revealing slightly more colourful and lively hair which was more a silvery grey as he bowed his head before Lady Maria.

"I can defer to any suggestions you may possess as to your feelings on the matter, Maria. After all, you were my brightest and most successful student."

Lady Maria smiled a smile the huntress never thought would be possible given the battle that she had engaged in with the woman guarding the Astral Clocktower, and she gasped.

Immediately, Lady Maria and Gehrman turned their attention to the huntress, Gehrman frowning deeply, and Lady Maria moving to the side, as if to make way for some heiress or royalty.

"Why aren't you preparing for your lesson, huntress?" Gehrman inquired viciously, placing his cap upon his head as he sat back down in his chair.

The huntress gaped like a fish freshly out of water and stumbled upon her words.

"I…I'm just…"

"Out with it!" Lady Maria barked, her youthful, pale features bearing no signs of anger, despite how harsh her tone had suddenly become.

"You're a hunter, are you not? What's this cowardice and stature?" Lady Maria continued, sizing up the huntress as she walked closer to her through the grass, a hand reaching out and flicking at the huntress's cap and cloak.

The huntress began wondering what to say next, when Gehrman spoke again.

"Whoever she is, she has dared disrespect your name and your garb, Maria. Odd, even for an outsider!"

Lady Maria's eyes narrowed at the huntress and she drew closer to the shorter huntress, seemingly ready for either an attack or a swift judgment, when Gehrman suddenly sighed loudly.

"What is it now, Micolash?"

At the sound of his name, both the huntress and Lady Maria turned back around to watch silently as a more youthful Micolash suddenly walked inside the realm of the Hunter Workshop.

The huntress was now able to confirm that she had indeed seen Micolash lecturing, for his hair was worn in the same manner, though this time slightly more messy and unkempt, and his student uniform was still draped over his body.

He held in his hands a parchment that was beginning to turn yellow at the edges, and he stood before Lady Maria, blushing furiously as the huntress had never known or seen him to do.

Micolash began wringing the parchment much into a cylinder within his hands as he hung his head low, shifted his feet awkwardly, and chuckled.

"My Lady…"

"Oh come off it, Micolash!" Gehrman growled, catching the younger man's attention, and he snapped back to attention, raising his head high and clearing his throat a few times.

"I apologize…I've only come bearing news…"

Gehrman looked at the parchment in Micolash's hands.

"That much is evident, Micolash. Though I fear the news will be lost within your hands at this rate."

Lady Maria nodded. "Indeed it will."

"Huh? Oh!" Micolash stumbled, his hands fumbling to straighten the parchment, and it slipped from his fingers and into the grass. Micolash bent down to grab it, muttering and sputtering his words under his breath as he stood back up and unfurled the parchment, clearing his throat and licking his thin lips as he read through the parchment.

Gehrman sighed impatiently, and the huntress personally felt his stress and pain, simply from observing Micolash for a few seconds.

"Well?" Gehrman breathed, resting a hand beneath his chin as he looked ahead at Micolash dully.

"Ahh yes! I've come to tell you that a plague has taken the Fishing Hamlet!," Micolash began, looking up from his readings to take in the sight of Lady Maria, which caused his cheeks to flare red, and he continued reading.

"…yesterday eve, the corpse of a Great One washed along the shores, and a few fishermen went out to investigate, and they were never heard from again. It is said the Great One was with child!"

A few of the hunters exiting the workshop house gasped and stopped in their movement.

"Impossible." Gehrman dismissed, removing his hand from beneath his chin and looking at Lady Maria with confusion etching across his face.

Lady Maria crossed her arms over her chest and towered over Micolash, practically. She didn't appear to believe the news either.

"Aye it is true, hear me out! The masses are being slaughtered, womenfolk and suckling babes are being torn away from their mother's breasts in the middle of the night screaming! The entire town is cursed and there has to be something done about it!" Micolash finished, setting the parchment down in front of his stomach as his eyes shifted between Lady Maria and Gehrman worriedly.

"What does Willem have to say about this matter?" Gehrman stood from his spot, but made no move to approach Micolash.

"Master Willem has ordered a select few to raid the Fishing Hamlet, and you will do it before dawn tide!" Micolash folded the parchment a few times, creasing it in half, then right down the center, causing Gehrman to growl and he suddenly leapt forward, slapping the parchment out of Micolash's hands.

"Cease!" He roared strongly, causing Micolash to shudder as he inched backwards a few steps in fear and shock.

"Which select few?" Lady Maria asked, ignoring the outbursts of anger and vitriol as she paced towards the two men, laying a hand on the lower back of her old mentor.

Gehrman nodded at Micolash, indicating for him to speak up.

"G-g-Gehrman, Lady M-Maria, Laurence, and L-L-Lud-w-w-wig!" He stammered, closing his eyes and curling into a fetal position as he fell onto the ground beneath Gehrman and Maria's feet.

Gehrman placed a hand over his forehead, his fingers clenching the bridge of his nose as he breathed deeply while hushed murmurs and whispers of the gossiping hunters around the workshop rose to louder questions, comments, and statements.

Within minutes, the hunters began arguing among each other, and they crowded around Lady Maria and Gehrman, discarding their weapons and items onto the ground and around them, and they formed a tight circle around their lead examples, hands stretching over them as they yelled and argued back and forth.

The huntress felt herself being shoved back as more hunters crowded around Lady Maria and Gehrman, soon drowning them and obscuring them from her view as she stood on her toes and tried looking at Gehrman and Maria.

It was of no use, for the two had disappeared in the sea of hunters charging around them and swallowing them from sight.

The huntress looked back down at the grassy ground where Micolash had fallen, but he had disappeared, leaving the spot vacant and empty…

The huntress looked up at the moon, and suddenly, the searing white light bore down upon her, engulfing only her in its rays.

While she was being shrouded by the light, a voice spoke out, as if only addressing the huntress herself, for only she seemed to respond to its call.

"Byrgenwerth...Byrgenwerth...Blasphemous murderers...Blood-crazed fiends..."

The huntress felt her skin and bones burning as the light practically choked and smothered her, growing brighter and brighter until she had to shield her eyes with her hands and hiss in pain and discomfort.

"By the wrath of Mother Kos...Mercy for the poor, wizened child."

The huntress heard the voice die down once she opened her eyes. She had barely opened her eyes for a second when she felt raindrops patter and tap the top of her skull.

She looked up to find a dark sky with heavy clouds moving quickly with the wind, and her feet suddenly felt wet and cold, causing her to drop her head down and note that everywhere she stood, she was immersed in a few centimeters of dark water.

The raindrops fell into the watery grounds, making little adjustments to how the ripples and waves danced and churned about as the wind orchestrated each and every movement like the brush strokes of a most skilled artist.

The huntress shivered as she turned around in a small circle on the spot she had appeared in, and she looked into old, dilapidated homes as they stood around her, almost as if they were caving in on her threatening her to leave.

Their old windows had been broken, leaving dark openness peering down at her, almost giving off the appeal that the houses had come to life and were staring at the huntress, watching her every move.

She swallowed and began walking past little piers and boats tied to them, the boats moving roughly against the wood, slamming and knocking against them as the waves and wind pushed them about like toys.

As the huntress studied her surroundings, she found that the piers and docks were abandoned, for not a soul was in sight. Barrels stood around, half open lids revealing rotting fish and eels, which gave way to their putrid stench whenever the wind picked up and blew the scent against the huntress's nose.

She nearly retched once she moved closer to inspect one of the barrels, catching the sight of some decaying, decomposing fish corpses stacked on top of each other.

This town clearly had been abandoned and plagued, the huntress thought as she continued walking throughout the Fishing Hamlet.

She stood before a well in the center of the little town, eyeing a small bucket standing on the side, rainwater overflowing from the brim and moving down along the sides back into the massive sea of water that had drenched the grounds of the Fishing Hamlet.

The huntress suddenly heard scuttling and scurrying of feet, and she automatically withdrew her Rakuyo, snapping it in two, and wielding the two blades carefully with strong, determined hands as she looked around for her enemies.

The slight sound of thunder from afar responded then, but then huntress ignored it, locating the noise from within a little cabin at the far end of a landing-stage which cut out into open sea.

The huntress climbed upon the landing-stage, walking towards the cabin. She reached the door, then turned and looked behind her. No one was there.

She turned back to the door, reaching up to push it open, when she noticed sea snails and slugs sliming their way up and down the sides and front of the door, trailing their slime behind with them as they drew across the wood.

The huntress felt sick for a moment, but then moved back, and kicked down the door with her boot roughly.

The door's latch broke away and clattered somewhere inside the old cabin, and dust flew about in the air as the door swung forward and opened up, revealing only darkness within the cabin.

The huntress covered her mouth and nose as the stench of death hit her from all angles, and she took a few steps inside the cabin, lighting her torch, when suddenly from the rafters above, the corpse of a man swung down and hit the huntress in the side.

She screamed once she was faced with the maggots that crawled in and out of the eye sockets, and sticking to the ribcage of the corpse as they searched for bits of organ and flesh to feast on and lay their eggs in.

The huntress ran out of the cabin, trying to catch her breath before she heaved enough to vomit, when she was interrupted by screams and wails in the distance.

She searched frantically to locate the source of the noise, looking past the old well, and she suddenly saw white dog-like creatures with the upper bodies of fish, their teeth long and pointed, fins sprouted on their backs, while their legs were that of dark canines.

The abominations ran about, wailing and screeching, followed by a few short fish men. The fish men held harpoons and weapons they had designed out of spoons and forks, and they began clattering their utensils about as they ran ahead maniacally.

The huntress bent down behind a barrel, observing the bizarre hideousness from her spot. It'd be foolish to join in the fray, for there were far too many of them, and they still kept advancing.

A loud thumping soon followed, and the huntress gazed ahead at what appeared to be a Shark Giant.

The magnificently grotesque creature was being pulled along by a smaller fish man, and he yanked the chains that held onto the neck of the Shark Giant. The Shark Giant opened its large jaws, revealing rows of sharp, jagged teeth, and it threw its large head back and roared mightily.

The huntress watched from her hiding spot as the Shark Giant swung its arms about, knocking down several other fish men as it tore its way through the far end of the Fishing Hamlet and began making its way closer to the well.

Fearful it would spot her, the huntress began to panic, searching for her next hiding spot. She cursed when she was unable to find one, knowing she had little time to relocate, when the thunderous flow of footsteps somehow miraculously saved her.

She turned and observed in awe as Laurence, Ludwig, and Gehrman ran forward. Gehrman held his Burial Blade high in the air, ready to triumph as he lead the group. They charged forth, Ludwig bounding forward and rolling to dodge a few sharp spears thrown his way, standing up then to slice down a rabid fish man and its aquatic-canine companion as it snapped its jaws at Ludwig's heels.

Laurence fired his pistol as he guarded Gehrman's back, while Gehrman charged his Burial Blade at the Shark Giant as it spotted him and dove forward on its belly and chest, sliding through the watery grounds, jaws ready and open to swallow the hunter whole.

Gehrman's blade hit the Shark Giant's nose, but it knocked him back a good few feet from the impact of its bodily force.

Gehrman fell back into the water, his Burial Blade and cap knocked off and floating in the water.

More fish men charged forward as the hulking Shark Giant got up and roared greatly, standing to its full height, clearly meaning to intimidate the fallen hunter.

Gehrman shielded himself by raising his hands up, but the huntress knew he was doomed. Wondering if now was the opportune moment to step in, she began panicking, but ceased to do so when she heard a boisterous feminine war cry.

From the top of one of the houses in the Fishing Hamlet, Lady Maria leapt down, her Rakuyo pointed at the head of the Shark Giant.

The young woman flew down, her Rakuyo finding its way in the back of the neck of the Shark Giant, with Maria landing on its back, firmly digging the Rakuyo in deeper.

The Shark Giant roared and howled in pain, a very irritating noise, and it turned and tried knocking Lady Maria off its back, but she drove her Rakuyo in deeper.

The Shark Giant dropped to its knees after a few more struggles, landing on its stomach with a heavy "BOOM!".

Lady Maria pulled out the Rakuyo from its neck, the blood tainting the blade as she raised it in a silent, symbolic warning as the fish men slowly crowded Lady Maria, though they hadn't attacked her…yet.

Laurence raced to help Gehrman while Ludwig offered him his cap and Burial Blade. They joined Lady Maria's side, while the fish men crowded closer and closer, their weapons raised, their bodies positioned ready to charge in for the kill.

That's when the hunters sprung into action.

To see them in their battle was an absolute beauty to the huntress. She could do nothing but gape in admiration and veneration as to such skill and strength they wielded.

They almost appeared to be dancing; Lady Maria flinging herself forward, letting her Rakuyo guide her hand for each and every killing blow she delivered, while Gehrman, Laurence and Ludwig pushed off groups of fish men, the Holy Blade and Moonlight Sword emitting its luminous green-blue rays, blasting and decapitating several fish men in the process as their bodies blew apart.

They fought alongside each other for hours and hours, making their way over to the shoreline. They had eventually cleared a path towards the shore, managing to slaughter each and every last fish man in sight.

The rain hadn't ceased when Lady Maria wiped blood and sweat off her brow, adjusting her Rakuyo together in one piece as she followed Gehrman, Laurence and Ludwig towards the large white corpse buried on the sand, the waves crashing and almost caressing the fallen corpse.

The huntress had been following them, and she squatted behind a large pile of boulders, trying to listen intently as they spoke.

"It ends here!" Laurence cried, unsheathing his Holy Blade and pointing it at the back of the corpse.

Lady Maria ran forward and placed her hand over his roughly, stopping him in his tracks.

"Listen!" She cried, and the hunters all paused on the spot.

The corpse must have come alive!

It began moving from side to side, and the huntress was certain it would soon rise, but then upon further, closer inspection, she noticed that only the belly of the corpse began twisting and churning, as if someone or something was trapped within it…

"Micolash was right! Kos is with child!" Gehrman gasped, and shoved past Maria, bending down and before anyone could speak, he dug the Burial Blade's sharp end inside the chest of the corpse, dragging his blade all the way down to the lower end, splitting its belly wide open for all to see.

"NO!" Lady Maria cried, letting Laurence go, and she raced beside Gehrman as he pushed aside the innards and organs of Kos, blood and bile spilling forward and covering his feet and Maria's.

Gehrman tried brushing her away with his shoulders and elbows. "Step aside, Maria!"

"She's with child!" Lady Maria watched in horror as Gehrman pulled apart placenta and the birthing sac with his blade and fingers, and a small, round, white head soon emerged from the womb of the split open Mother Kos and onto the sand.

The huntress felt her heart stop beating as she watched Gehrman pull up the long-legged, nearly emaciated orphan.

Laurence and Ludwig soon helped him, Laurence holding the orphan's legs, while Ludwig held onto its arms. Together, they raised the corpse high, and then on the silent count of three, they beheaded it and tossed it back into the sea.

Lady Maria emitted the most pained, tortured scream ever heard. The huntress nearly screamed in response to it, but she bit down on her tongue and covered her mouth as she watched Lady Maria race back through the Fishing Hamlet, tears staining her eyes and cheeks, and it wasn't from the rain.

"Maria! COME BACK!" Gehrman and the others tore after her, and they all stopped once they had reached the well in the Fishing Hamlet once again.

Lady Maria stood with her back facing the others, and she withdrew her Rakuyo, holding it up and staring at it while sobbing heavily.

For a moment, the huntress thought Lady Maria was going to attack her comrades as she turned and looked at them with her eyes full of salty tears.

"Maria! It had to be done!" Ludwig stated angrily, placing a hand on his chest and breathing deeply after their long run.

"You're worse than these beasts! Your souls are what's plagued; not these poor people!" Lady Maria cried louder and harder, sobbing almost hysterically as she made her way closer to the well.

"Maria, we had our orders, you cannot refuse them!" Gehrman sighed exhaustedly, slightly limping as he approached her, but she raised the Rakuyo before them all, extending it and pointing it out at them.

Ludwig growled and made a grab for his own weapon, but Gehrman placed a hand up to stop him.

"You traitor!" Laurence hissed judgmentally at Lady Maria, and they all watched as she paced a few more steps closer to the edge of the well, pausing to look down into it, her Rakuyo still pointed dangerously at the trio.

Lady Maria nodded sadly, eyes still cast down at the depths of the well below.

"Perhaps I am…perhaps they made me so."

"What're you going to do, Maria?" Gehrman asked, hand still raised against Ludwig.

Lady Maria pulled her Rakuyo close to her chest and sighed.

"What needs to be done, Gehrman." With that, she tossed her beloved weapon down into the well, and it fell for minutes before it splashed down below into the dark, murky waters.

"Maria…" Gehrman gasped, watching as Maria looked at her empty hands, studying her fingers intently before she looked at her comrades and raised her hands towards them.

"I've spilled so much innocent blood! I've taken so many innocent lives, but no more! No more…" She lowered her hands and turned her back to her fellow hunters, walking away from them, heading farther and farther away.

"MARIA!" Gehrman began running after her, but Laurence and Ludwig both grabbed him and stopped him in his tracks.

"MARIA!"

The huntress felt her own tears running down her cheeks, and she reached up to wipe them, her vision clearing up as she freed her stinging eyes from her tears.

She suddenly had felt so very wrong and guilty for slaying Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower. The woman wasn't a common foe; she was trying to prevent this madness and chaos! She was only trying to prevent other hot-headed hunters from repeating her mistakes over and over, risking themselves being trapped within the nightmare!

The huntress knew she had been heading down the same path of destruction and corruption as Maria and Gehrman had, but it was far too late. Perhaps she could right her wrongs…in another waking world…

Looking ahead from her hiding spot, the huntress saw a figure squatted behind some crates and barrels, clearly having spied on the spectacle and violence as well.

The huntress gasped when she saw it was Micolash. He turned and looked at her, eyes dark and menacing, and he slowly raised a finger to his lips and whispered "Shhhh".

Before she could do anything else, the huntress felt the over-powering, potent rays of the bright light slam into her once more.

She stood rock still as she felt her soul being torn out of this memory and onto the next.

"Listen for the baneful chants. A call to the bloodless, wherever they be. A call to the bloodless, wherever they be. Fix your ears, to hear our call."

The voice spoke to her over and over as she disappeared and reappeared in the Astral Clocktower.

"Lady Maria?!" The huntress wasted no time.

She ran down the large Clocktower where Lady Maria normally sat in her chair, but it appeared that the huntress had arrived too late.

Lady Maria sat as the huntress had originally found her, bleeding out of her wrists, sitting cross-legged in her chair, head tilted to the side, eyes closed.

The huntress shook Lady Maria's shoulders desperately.

"Lady Maria! Please! Lady Maria!"

The woman didn't stir.

"Lady Maria! I know what happened at the Fishing Hamlet! Lady Maria!" She cried out louder, and suddenly, just as she had the first time, Lady Maria's hand gripped onto the huntress's hands, trapping them tightly in her own, and she pulled her closer towards her face.

The huntress gasped, staring wide-eyed at Lady Maria, her breath hitching in her throat.

Lady Maria smiled sadly, her eyes meeting the huntress's blue ones, wearing the most depressingly enchanting stare within their depths.

"I tried saving them, I really tried." Lady Maria loosened her grip on her hand, her blood dripping out of her self-inflicted wounds rapidly now.

The huntress nodded, "Lady Maria, please…"

"We knew not what we did, yet we completed and followed our orders…we caused this…we did this! We cursed ourselves by ripping the child of Mother Kos straight from her womb!"

Lady Maria hung her head low, tears once again flooding her round eyes.

"We're such vile creatures! I tried burying my guilt and sorrow at the Research Hall! Saint Adeline forgives me, but I cannot and will never forgive myself for what I've done! Never!"

She broke down into more heavy sobs, her hand falling out of the huntress's, and hanging like the limb of a puppet by her side at the armrest of the chair.

The huntress gently pulled Lady Maria's arms back up.

"No! You're wrong, Lady Maria! There is a way to fix it! We have to-"

Voices soon echoed outside the doors of the Clocktower, and the huntress gasped, knowing she was soon to be caught.

Lady Maria surprised the huntress while her thoughts raced to find a hiding spot, her warm hand gently grazing the huntress's cheeks softly, making the huntress turn back and look down at Lady Maria.

"You must go. They'll kill you if they find you here." Lady Maria gave her one last pained smile, and let her go.

The huntress ran to the back where the old coffin sat behind Maria at the top of the little staircase, and she pushed open the lid slowly, as it weighed more than she thought.

The doors began opening, and the huntress cursed in a whisper as she pried the lid in time and slid down inside it before the doors fully opened.

The huntress left the coffin open a small gap, and she looked out in front of her as Gehrman walked inside.

He walked slowly, gasping once he saw Lady Maria. Falling to his knees once he reached her, he lay his head on her lap, sobs growing hysterical.

"Maria! Why did you do it?" He cried, and the huntress watched as the back of Lady Maria's head tilted slightly downward with the bits of energy she still had left, and she watched as Maria's hands came up to the back of Gehrman's head, and she stroked his hair and scalp softly.

"I couldn't live another day and gaze upon my guilt-ridden appearance any longer, Gehrman, please try to understand my part in this." She sighed, her breath catching in her throat as she moaned in pain.

"The Church did this, but I have to end this. We all seek ascension, yet are we really achieving it?" Maria kept caressing Gehrman as he gripped tightly onto her garb, burying his tears and cries in her lap.

"I saw what they forced the patients through, and I can't go on living like this, Gehrman. I have already been condemned to the hell I created…we created…together. I forgive you, Gehrman." She began speaking slower and slower, her voice growing more and more weak with every word.

Gehrman raised his head, his lips quivering. "Maria?!"

"Shhh….don't sob for me…I don't deserve your tears, Gehrman," she sighed and her hands hung loosely on her lap, "…may the gods forgive us all…"

The huntress watched tearfully as Lady Maria's head fell to the side, and her breathing ceased.

Gehrman threw his head back and let out the most haunting sobs and wails, causing the huntress to cover her eyes and mouth as she cried on within the coffin.

The two cried for what seemed like hours, Maria's body growing colder and colder by the minute before Gehrman reached inside his garb, and produced something.

"M-Maria…" He sobbed as he placed the object in the palm of her hand, and he gently and carefully closed her hand, and placed it on her lap once more.

He turned and stood, walking away with his shoulders hung sadly, only stopping once he touched the large doors of the Astral Clocktower.

"I forgive you, Maria...will you forgive me?" He didn't wait for an answer that would never come, and he closed the doors to the Astral Clocktower behind him.

Once he had left, the huntress pried open the coffin lid again, stepping out of the coffin slowly, her movements feeling weighed down now by her guilt, as well as Lady Maria's. The huntress couldn't deny she shared a familiar bond with Lady Maria now, and she felt as if these memories she was viewing were shaping her conscience and experience in the dream, if not to doom her, to at least enlighten her and teach her of something grander than the hunt. She knew now that there was so much more to this plague of beasts that she had yet to understand, and she felt that the pain and sorrow these hunters had gone through were the only way humans would ever be able to obtain knowledge from the Great Ones and gods. It was a trade-off, a price they all had to pay for seeking knowledge and greatness that wasn't theirs to claim selfishly. In their feeble attempts at controlling and establishing power over all things, they had damned themselves, and several innocents who deserved to be protected; not mercilessly slaughtered.

The huntress looked at Lady Maria's corpse, and she reached down, placing her hand on the back of Lady Maria's closed one. Her fingers wove their way around hers, and she carefully opened up Lady Maria's hand, peering down at the object that Gehrman had placed in the palm of her hand.

It was a little white Lumenflower, the petals already drying and dying out as one fell in the center of Lady Maria's palm.

The huntress grabbed a petal, and studied it closely, prodding the soft, delicate thing with her finger when she felt a presence behind her of that being watched…

She whipped around on her feet, only to find Micolash's retreating back from the re-opened gap in the door.

"You!" The huntress cried, dropping the flower at Lady Maria's feet, tearing after Micolash as he ran through the Lumenflower Gardens.

The huntress had barely made it to the door, when she was stopped by the harsh light. It crashed down on the top of her head, burning straight through to her toes, and she clenched her eyes in fear as she felt herself being transported once more.

Bells and the screams and cries of women and children met her ears once the huntress was mobile once more. She gazed around, trying to gain her bearings in this new memory, when she backed into a pale Bell Maiden.

The black cloaked woman raised the bell before her, red-painted fingernails clutching the bell like claws as he gasped and moaned unintelligibly, summoning mad mob men around the huntress.

"Die! Die!" They cried, raising the pitchforks at her.

The huntress broke into a run, tearing through the insanity and madness of Yahar'gul, Unseen Village. Everywhere, women and children were being separated from their fathers and brothers as Mensis Scholars and their assistants pulled whole families apart.

The Mensis Scholars wore the Mensis Cages upon their heads, and they soon began yanking their prisoners and captives along with them, pushing them down onto the dried-up grounds.

The huntress watched in pure terror and horror as one Mensis Scholar pushed a young man into an old chair, chaining his legs together, and then his arms. The young man fought and begged to be released and returned back to his family, but his cries went ignored by the Mensis Scholar.

The insane Scholar was soon joined by another, who held a new Mensis Cage in his arms. While the first Scholar held onto the shoulders of the man, the second Scholar placed the Mensis cage forcefully on the man's head.

"NOOOOO!" He screamed and struggled, the chains clanking about wildly, but it was no good.

The cage trapped his face fully, and both Mensis Scholars raised their hands in compliance, as if they were acquiescing with the orders of the gods who only spoke to them.

Thunder and howling wind soon drowned out the screams and tortured wails of people everywhere as they were pushed and ordered about to kneel before statues of Amygdala and the Great Ones by the Mensis Scholars.

The huntress saw one of the Scholars point up at her, and he growled inhumanely.

Before more could spot her, the huntress tore off on her feet, flying through the Yahar'gul Chapel, making her way past the Advent Plaza as more people clamored and ran about, trying to flee for their lives while Mensis Scholars chased after them.

The huntress bolted up a flight of steps at the end of the Advent Plaza, and she entered a small square room. She was out of breath, panting as she fell on her knees, but she soon noticed she wasn't alone in the room.

A few lights hung on the walls, but the room was purely dark. Chairs lined up both sides of the room to seat a small audience facing each other, but there was only one other person in the room with the huntress.

Directly in front of her, sat the Mad Man himself; Micolash.

This time he had the Mensis Cage on his head, and he had been bolted and shackled to the chair, roughly.

He didn't move at first, but then he raised his head and glared at the huntress before him. The chains looped and hooked onto a clamp at his neck, weighing his head down as the chain was connected from the center of his neck to the floor between his legs. When he moved, the chains rattled, though he did not appear to be in any pain.

"Come to see the glory, then?" He asked, chuckling as he peered dangerously at her, his eyes nearly glowing evilly in the darkness.

"You're…insane!" The huntress cried, her hands shaking so much that she folded them into her lap, then curled them into tight fists at her sides.

"Very much, but then again, we all are!" Micolash laughed hideously at the back of his throat, his head handing low from the weight of the chains.

"I won't forget anything when I go to sleep now! I'll remember everything!" He giggled like a man who truly had lost his mind, his eyes appearing like little green slits as he laughed louder and louder.

The huntress had had enough and had taken all she could take of the man then.

She grabbed her Rakuyo strongly, and leaping up on her feet, she threw herself forward with the Rakuyo raised and pointed at the man's chest, aiming for his heart.

The huntress felt the Rakuyo meld into his flesh with a sickening "sliiiitch!"

Micolash stopped laughing, which was what the huntress mostly desired, but he also began bleeding out, gasping and wheezing, which was more so what she desired.

"Lady Maria…" he coughed before closing his eyes and meeting death.

As soon as the life left Micolash's body, the last beams of the strong light hit both the huntress as well as Micolash.

The huntress felt herself moving through time once more, and she fell forward onto the cold corpse, eyes slamming shut as she screamed in anguish and pain.

She fell down on top of Micolash as soon as she woke up once again to find herself in his sick maze where it had all started.

"Oh how eagerly you jump into my arms, My Lady…" Micolash's hot, putrid breath was by her ear, causing the huntress to writhe in disgust, and she rammed her knee against his crotch.

"Get your slimy hands off me!" She cried out angrily once he let her get to her feet.

Micolash rose to his feet, and began running around the huntress in a circle, taunting her with his maniacal laughter and howling.

She wanted to tear out his heart-provided he had one-right then and there. He had accompanied her throughout her visions and journey of the past, yet he had seemingly forgotten it all, no doubt thinking it was a big joke or game. How dare he…how dare he!

The huntress swiped at him with the deadly Rakuyo, but she missed as he ran and dodged about, quickly making her turn in time to try to land a killing blow.

She soon realized she was running of out stamina, but she fought on, eager to finish off the Host of the Nightmare for good.

"Oh Lady Maria, put that weapon away, we mustn't engage in such ghastly, beastly dancing!" Micolash chimed gleefully, releasing an Augur of Ebrietas her way, which she dodged to the left away from.

"I'm not Lady Maria, you freak!" She cried angrily.

"How dare you soil her name and honour by emitting it from your stained, foul mouth! You vile beast!" She swirled about with the Rakuyo pointed and aimed at his midsection, but it cut away through his uniform when he moved back just in time before he was pierced through.

"What're you prattling on about now?" He hissed, showing some signs of discomfort for the first time.

"Lady Maria despised you! Can't you see that?" The huntress cried, standing on her right, dominant leg and swooping in with her weight on the handle of the Rakuyo, missing Micolash once again to her frustration.

Micolash stopped moving, which in turn caused his skeleton puppets to begin walking in the large room, floating above the mist and fog as they surrounded the livid huntress.

"Lady Maria never despised me…she cherished me and enjoyed my greater intellect!" Micolash smiled once again, but it seemed less genuine this time as the corners and edges of his lips twitched downward as if someone were pulling them down with a string.

The huntress laughed a bitter laugh, "You stalked her. You thought you could possess her strength and admirable skill, yet you were nothing but a coward, and proved yourself to be every time as you followed her about like a little lost puppy."

Micolash growled threateningly and maddeningly, shoving his way past the huntress, who ran after him, trying to hit him with her Rakuyo every time, but missing, just as she had the first time.

They ran until Micolash turned to the right and fell down a hole in the floor, landing in the floor-level of a medium-sized empty rectangular room.

The huntress bit down on her tongue, knowing it was now or never. She knew that one of them would make it out of here alive, and the other would definitely head to the grave. She examined the room beneath her feet, counting silently and mentally to 'three' before she fell down and landed on her feet roughly.

Micolash slammed into her back from behind, aiming rather powerful punches, knocks and blows into her spine and back, causing her to stumble and lose her footing.

"You're mine, Maria!" He repeated angrily, charging at the huntress with his strong fists, his eyes appearing beyond murderous and deadly as he met hers boldly.

She backed away from the slew of fists, moving side-to-side until Micolash ceased.

"I'm not your property, and neither was Lady Maria! She abhorred men like you!" The huntress split apart her Rakuyo and was preparing for an attack, when Micolash placed his hands on either side of the Mensis Cage upon his head, crying and screaming in pain, swaying from side to side clumsily.

"No…."

"YES!" She shrieked, feeling her throat burning raw from the intensity of her voice and the volume.

Micolash shook himself steady, and suddenly stood straight, looking up at the ceiling, clasping his hands together above his head as if in deep prayer or worship.

"The cosmos, of course!" He chanted joyfully, and a projectile laser beam gathered from his clenched hands, and it burst, exploding into many separate beams, shooting forth for the huntress.

One of them managed to hit her as she tried dodging majority of them, and she screamed in reverent terror and pain as it burned through her skin, causing a large gaping wound to form in her right thigh.

Micolash, however, didn't seem to notice or care, for he immediately began summoning the lasers once again.

"New ideas, of the higher plane!"

The laser beams targeted the huntress, and she panicked, shooting her Evelyn rapidly at Micolash, which seemed to stun him before he could repeat the deadly Arcane move.

Another flash of a hot beam slammed into the huntress's knee, and she fell to the side, rolling over until she smashed roughly against the wall.

Biting down on her tongue and lips in nothing but agony and violent pain, she willed herself to get up, knowing she was running out of blood and energy, slowly whittling down towards her end.

Micolash's tentacles hit her face as she stood, which stunned her immediately.

She heaved and gasped for air, her lungs feeling pierced through. His tentacles had aimed cleverly for her heart, and had impaled and broken through her ribcage, effectively spearing through her heart.

Micolash's hands were the only things she could feel that weren't identified as pain, as they wound their way around her back and waist, pulling her flat against his chest.

"I love you, Maria, I always have, and I always will…" He whispered sadly, his eyes turning red and watery as he held her close.

The huntress felt blood spilling out of her mouth and over her lips, dripping down to her chin, but all she could do in her paralysis was stare blankly at Micolash as he held her, sobbing and stroking her face.

"Maria…" He leaned forward, and softly planted his lips upon hers. His lips felt oddly cold against hers, and his nose brushed against hers as he moved his lips softly over hers…

He sprang up from the kiss, groaning suddenly in pain.

His hands pulled themselves away from her waist and sides, and carefully released her, moving towards his own chest, where the entire blade of the Rakuyo was wedged and buried into his heart.

Micolash looked down at the Rakuyo in his chest, and then up at the huntress. He smiled and chuckled only once, before he pulled the Rakuyo out painfully and slowly, grimacing and whining in pain.

The Rakuyo fell between them on the cold ground, and the skeletons immediately fell down, lifeless now that they were without their puppeteer. The room began growing colder, and the huntress's vision began blurring, darkness consuming her steadily as she took in her last breathes while she could. She could feel her heart slowing down, the blood in her veins ceasing to flow, and she began feeling the rest of her livelihood draining out of her body.

Micolash lay before her, clutching at his heart, and he looked at her one final time before crying out in anguish:

"Now I'm waking up!", he whined like a little child who had his favourite toys and playroom taken away from him, "…I'll forget everything!" the last whine echoed throughout the maze hauntingly, and the huntress closed her eyes, trying to drown it out. She wanted her final moments to be that of peace and solitude, despite the fact that she had failed, she had lost.

It suddenly didn't seem that bad, losing and ending the dream. She felt free, which is what she had desired all along, and she was finally prepared to accept her death.

Her eyelids fluttered a few times almost on their own accord, and as she looked about, she suddenly saw two brown boot-covered legs in front of her.

The huntress craned her neck painfully upward, but the figure bent down, a warm hand upon the huntress's back calmly and almost soothingly in essence.

"Shhh…"

The huntress's vision may have been blurry, but she saw clear as day: Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower.

She moaned in pain, trying to reach out to hold onto Lady Maria.

Lady Maria smiled warmly and gently down at the huntress, stretching out her hand, and grabbing her hand warmly in her own.

"You're free, huntress. You're free from this horrible hunter's dream." She cooed softly at the brave huntress, her thumbs stroking the huntress's ice-cold digits peacefully and calmingly, her smile warming only the huntress's heart as it clenched tightly, the muscle finally giving out its last pump before it let go.

The huntress, too, let go of Lady Maria's hand, and her own lifelessly slumped onto the cold floor, the light leaving her eyes instantly as they remained open, a small smile upon her lips.

A small Lumenflower and a little hair ornament bearing little wisps of grey hair in the teeth of the comb were placed in the palm of the deceased huntress, and her hand was gently closed.

"Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world."


End file.
